In Relation to the Center Line
by pari106
Summary: Shorts and Drabbles inspired by NCIS - het, slash, and gen. New: "Pillow Fight", a gen. ficlet featuring Tony, Kate, and Abby.
1. In Relation to the Center Line

In Relation to the Center Line...

by pari

Rating: G

Disclaimer: the show, the characters, the ever increasing desire to kiss whatever lovely person cast Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzio... None of it's mine. Well. That last part is. But you get the point.

DiNozzio/Gibbs 

A drabble inspired by "High Seas."

A/N: I almost feel bad writing this. I don't watch the show for its slashability. In fact, that aspect of the show might never have occurred to me if I hadn't read the little bit of D/G slash currently available on the net. (okay, that's a lie. there's an awful lot of slashy subtext to be found in this show. I'm certain my naughty little mind would have picked up on it eventually. but I tried _really hard_ to ignore it. that counts for something, right?) :p

::::::

Just accept that you're going to get lost...

Everyone does.

This is a big and confusing place, and this is your first time here.

Accept the sting the sight of them causes, as you watch them together. Know that it was unavoidable. You can't help how it hurts to think of his past with Burley, any more than you can change the fact that he has one.

Remember: crossing from port to starboard - from officers to friends to lovers - isn't as simple as going straight across. Sometimes you have to go up one deck and down another, or down one deck and _up_ another; one step forward and one step back. Or two. Sometimes you have to step back and let him take the lead; trust that he knows where the both of you are going at least as well as you think. The heart of a ship is its center line, and now that he's found his way into yours, you have to believe that he won't abuse that power. That he won't wander away into some darker frame.

Know that it's _okay_ to get a little lost every now and again. Frustrated. Jealous. Just keep your head on straight, don't be rash, smile. Be friendly. Your face is your own personal bull's-eye; let the mask slip even once, and they'll all know the level you've fallen to for him.

He deserves better than that. He deserves your faith. He's earned it with his interest, his attention, his care. His "Tony," spoken in an effortless way - like he wouldn't be able to forget you even if he tried; like there's something, anything, about you so unforgettable that even years of history can't supercede it.

Accept that it's different between you - just like Cait said. It's different between you and Gibbs than it was between him and Burley. _You're_ different. And Jeth isn't going anywhere.

He'll be there when you're through being lost and confused. 

He's in the same, confusing place as you are.

You'll get the hang of it. After you get lost a few times.

[end.]


	2. Dynamic

Dynamic

A drabble of 100 words

by pari

Series: In Relation to the Center Line

Drabbles and Shorts inspired by NCIS

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

Gibbs/Burley, Gibbs/DiNozzo implied

Summary: "_It was a different dynamic...a different time. You can't compare the relationships_."

A/N: This comes from "High Seas", obviously. It's sort of the flipside to "In Relation to the Center Line," my Gibbs/DiNozzo short.

::::

"_Is that the best you can do, Stan? After working under me five years._"

Oh yeah. It _is_ starting to come back to me now.

The tightness in my chest, the constant strive to please. The continuous failure.

Three years of working together - side by side - just to get you to remember my name. A year of sleeping together to get you to say it in the light of day.

Watching someone else get a bigger piece of you than I could hope for - your wives, your work.

This kid.

What's DiNozzo got that I never had, Gibbs?

Besides you.

[end.]


	3. So

So...

A drabble of 100 words

by pari

Series: In Relation to the Center Line

Drabbles and Shorts inspired by NCIS

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Including half the dialogue (taken from "The Good Samaritan").

Gibbs/Abby

Summary: _Is that a guess...or do you actually know where I'm going with this?_

A/N: Because I haven't seen this pairing yet. 

::::

Skeptical: "Is that a guess or do you actually know where I'm going with this?

Playful: "What do you think?"

"Well, I don't know, that's why I asked you."

"Why don't you just tell me?"

"So you don't know?"

"I want to make sure _you_ know."

"Hmm."

"Hmm."

"Maybe we should play poker sometime."

"Yeah, we should."

"So..."

"So."

Crestfallen: "You don't know, do you?"

"I think I might have an idea."

And then Gibbs kissed her.

"You knew!"

"I'd hoped. So..."

"So."

"Pick you up at eight?"

"Like, for a date?"

"Like for a date."

Abby smiled.

"You bet, boss."

[end.]


	4. Amalgam

Amalgam

by pari

Disclaimer: The boys aren't mine.

Archive: NavyNCISslash; NCISshippers; anyone else, just ask. Feedback: Please!

Rated PG-13 (suggestive). DiNozzo/McGhee

A/N: Noticed a lack of this pairing in the world, and wanted to fill a tiny bit of the void. Was meant to be a drabble (or - at the very most - a double drabble). Turned out longer than that. Have I lost my touch, or what? Anywho, I'm working on a longer, smuttier :p version of this. Anyone interested in reading it?

[]

"You like that, McGhee?"

He wants to say no.

No, he doesn't like it. Doesn't want it. Doesn't want _him_.

__

He is made up of all these bits and pieces of boys and men who intimidated or irritated Tim in the past. The jocks who never looked at Tim; the class clowns who did, and laughed. The charming kids, the pretty boys - who batted their eyes through term papers and test grades while Tim worked his _ass_ off for much the same results.

Tony is made up of all these things that Tim _isn't_. Smirks and innuendo and big, blue eyes and long, dark lashes. Muscles and mischief and a bad-boy, '_I-can-do-anything'_ attitude that takes Tony only far enough to get him into trouble. Then Tony becomes all pouts and sighs and '_love me'_ looks and everybody _does_. Everybody _loves_ Tony. Even when they don't.

Tim wants wants _wants_ to reject him. He doesn't think anybody ever denies Tony anything.

"You want-"

Tim stops Tony's words with a kiss. There's a smirk curling against his lips, and confident hands working at the buttons of his shirt. And the image of every man Tim has ever known and wanted, or _not_ wanted, runs through his mind like a movie reel at top speed. The film bubbles and snaps, leaving only Tony behind - more than the sum of all his parts - licking a straight line down Tim's throat, dissecting Tim's resolve with every brush of his tongue.

"You like-"

Tim does. He really, _really_ does.

"Yes."

[ end. ]


	5. Pillow Fight

Pillow Fight

by pari

Rated: G

Abby/Tony/Kate friendship PWP

Disclaimer: Nothing NCIS belongs to me.

A/N: This is a little snippet that was going to be a part of a longer, general NCIS fic. The fic fell through, but I kind of liked this part so it's survived as a bit of PWP. Set sometime in the near future.

"So...tell me _why_ we're on stakeout again."

Abby Sciutto shifted in the backseat of the dark car the NCIS agents had parked across the street from Lt. Darnell's apartment building. She crossed and uncrossed her ankles where they rested on the console between the front seats, her heavy combat boots scuffing the leather.

Special Agents Todd and DiNozzo exchanged a glance - DiNozzo with a grin, Todd with a look of fond exasperation.

"Because Darnell is a flight risk," Tony told Abby, gazing back out the window at the door to Darnell's apartment. DiNozzo was slumped in his seat, head resting in his left hand. With his right he drummed a random beat on the steering wheel in front of him.

"He's supposed to be at the conference all evening," Kate continued in the same inflectionless tone. "But Gibbs thinks he's going to make a run for it once he finds out NCIS confronted Boedecker this morning." Kate's last few words were slurred by a yawn. Tony grinned at her cheekily, earning himself a glare that soon transformed itself into a smug smirk. Yawns are contagious, and by the time Kate's had made the rounds Tony was yawning loudest of all.

Abby smiled as Tony and Kate instigated a tug-of-war over the lone pillow she had brought with her for the stakeout.

"So why not go to the conference?" Abby asked, as if nothing were happening. "Wait for Darnell there?"

"Because..." Kate began to respond, then stopped as Tony made a successful grab at the pillow and came away victorious. Kate's eyes narrowed. She made as if to reach for her piece. Tony rolled his eyes...

Giving Kate the perfect opportunity to snatch the pillow back and hit Tony over the head with it.

"Fornell's already got a team at the conference," Kate said finally, smiling, as Tony frowned and smoothed back his hair.

Abby slurped on her Big Gulp. "Ah."

"And Gibbs is there," Tony reminded, eying Kate's efforts to make herself comfortable with Abby's pillow enviously. "We're just backup."

Abby sighed, shifting again. Several sighs, shifts, and clunks of boots later, Abby had her head on the console between Kate and Tony, and her feet resting on the back dash. Tony grinned down at her.

"Couldn't Darnell just take off from the conference," Abby asked, reinitiating conversation. "I mean, if you _know_ the Feds are on to you, why swing by the pad for travel accessories? There's a 24-hour right around the block."

Kate responded with her eyes closed. She had Abby's pillow sandwiched between her cheek and the half-raised glass of the passenger-side door window.

"The disks, Abby."

"Hardly your average travel accessory," Tony added, glancing out the corner of his eye at Kate.

"You're kidding," Abby said, raising a brow. "You mean he's still got 'em at his place?"

"Hasn't had the chance to move them yet. But he'll try once Gibbs puts the heat on him."

Suddenly Tony was sitting up straight in his seat, a smile forming on his lips. Abby began to rise to see what was going on, but Tony stopped her with the wave of a hand and a gesture for her to be quiet.

Abby watched him skeptically, but smiled and said nothing.

Kate, oblivious, asked, "Tell you what, Abs - since you're into this whole stakeout thing, why don't you be Tony's second and wake me up if Darnell shows? That way I can get some sleep."

Abby bit her lip. Tony's finger was paused over the window switches on the driver's side door.

Abby rolled her eyes but played along.

"Uh-uh. It's my day off, remember?" she said. "I'm supposed to be home recuperating, waiting for Pascelli to piece my lab back together." Abby grimaced, scratching at the stiff bandages that encircled her stomach; a memento from the last time the NCIS had tangled with Hassat's men.

'She'll kill you,' she mouthed at Tony.

Tony gave her one of his thousand-watt, 'has-that-ever-stopped-me-?' grins. And jabbed the button.

Immediately after came the sound of a thunk and a shrill yelp.

"Tony!" Kate screamed. Abby giggled and drew herself out of the crossfire.

[ end ]


End file.
